


Head Over Heels

by DrummerFromDownUnder



Category: Nowhere Boys (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-03-13 16:48:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 15,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18944953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrummerFromDownUnder/pseuds/DrummerFromDownUnder
Summary: “Uh, well…”Jake was shaking his head at him, making him feel guiltier for what he was about to do.Sam knew it was wrong, he knew he was being a complete and utter arsehole but, his reputation was on the line.-/-/-/-/-Sam and Felix start hanging out together during summer holidays and act like they don't know each other when school starts up, until Sam takes it a bit too far when rumors are spread around the school yard.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from _Head Over Heels_ by _Tears For Fears_ which I very loosely based this off of when listening to the _Digital Daggers_ cover

Felix wasn’t really sure what happened.

It was the beginning of summer holidays and Christmas was right around the corner. Felix ran through the streets of Bremin over to his dad’s shop. “Dad! Mum needs you to call her, somethings up with Oscar again.” He said as he rushed over to the counter, where a boy shorter than him was paying for snacks.

“Why didn’t she just ring me?” His dad asked.

“She did. _Several times_. You’ve probably got your phone on silent again.”

Ken reached into his pocket, grabbing out his mobile. “Ah, okay.” He said, seeing the notification for multiple missed calls. “Felix, close up shop for me.” He turned to the shorter boy standing next to his son. “And here is your change.” With that, Ken picked up his things and ran out the door.

Felix sighed, collapsing on the counter, his head hitting it with a thud.

“Uh, Felix, right? Felix Ferne?”

Felix moved his head slightly and looked up. “Yeah, what’s it to _you_?”

“Nothin’, really. Just not used to seein’ you in shorts.” Said the shorter boy.

It was an interesting sight. Felix, who was known for wearing black skinny jeans, black, white or gray graphic tees and black Doc Martins, was wearing a black _Fall Out Boy_ tank top, black basketball shorts and a pair of black hi-top vans. It was still very much Felix just kinda… sporty.

“Yeah, well. I can’t wear skinny jeans all the time.”

“Nah, I guess not. By the way, I’m S-“

“I know who you are, Sam. I’ve known every kid in our year level since year 3.”

“Oh… So, do you maybe… wanna hang out?” Sam asked.

Felix stood up, crossed his arms and leaned his back on the counter. “…Why?” He asked cautiously.

Sam shrugged. “I dunno, I’m kinda bored. My mates are all on holiday and my brothers are with their friends.”

“So… you want me to be your… _replacement friend_?”

Sam winced. “Okay, when you say it like that…”

Felix looked up at the ceiling and huffed. “ _I can’t believe I’m doin’ this.”_ He said under his breath. “Fine.” He replied, looking down at Sam. “I’ve got nothin’ better to do.”

-/-/-/-/-

“So, what are your family plans for Christmas?” Sam asked as Felix locked up his dad’s store.

“Uh, not much really. Just me, mum, dad and my brother. So, probably just gifts in the morning, lunch in the arvo and straight to bed.”

“Lu _cky_! We’ve got relatives coming down from all over the place. My house is gonna be packed.”

They continued to talk a little bit while they walked out of town to the outskirts of Bremin where a rickety old shack stood.

“My brothers and I used to come up here all the time when we were little.” Sam told Felix as they walked towards the shack.

“Oscar and I used to climb trees.” Felix replied with a small, sad smile.

“Oh… I-is that how-“

“I _don’t_ want to talk about it.” Felix said, cutting Sam off.

“Right…” Sam paused and thought about what to say next. He and Felix didn’t seem to have much in common, but Sam was a very social being and having no one to hang out with was driving him crazy. “So, um… you have a favourite food?”

-/-/-/-/-

They ended up staying and hanging around the shack for a few hours until Felix received several texts from Oscar.

_*Back home, nothing serious*_

_*Where are you?*_

_*Mum and Dad are suffocating me*_

“I’ve gotta head home.” Felix said, standing up from where he was sitting. He was actually kind of sad that he had to go back. Turned out Sam wasn’t as bad as he thought.

“Oh, okay, dude.” Sam replied, getting up and stretching after lying on the ground for a solid hour or so.

-/-/-/-/-

They made their way back to town and went to split up when Sam spoke up.

“Hey, could I maybe… get your number?”

Felix was confused, he thought that the afternoon was just going to be a one-time thing. “Why?”

“So, we could hang out again?”

Felix looked at Sam like he had a screw loose.

Sam sighed. “Look, I know you’re not really good with the whole _‘friend’_ thing-“

“Wow, _thanks_.” Felix cut him off, sarcastically.

“But…” Sam continued. “I think you’re actually pretty cool.”

“I don’t know…” Felix was hesitant, rightfully so. When you’re six feet under the social ladder, popular kids wanting your phone number seems a bit suspicious.

“Give me your phone.”

“Jeez, Sam. A please would be nice.”

Sam sighed dramatically and held out his hand. “Give me your phone _please_.”

Felix unlocked his phone and handed it to Sam while the shorter boy muttered about his mum making him say shit like that constantly.

“Well then, you should listen to her.”

“Shut up.” After typing Sam proceeded to take a photo of himself, sticking his tongue out.

“You having fun there?” Felix asked him, snickering.

“Here,” Sam said, giving Felix back his phone. “If you wanna hang out again, text me. If you don’t, don’t. Simple as that. Your choice.” Sam said walking away backwards.

“Don’t get your hopes up.” Felix replied, turning around to leave.

As he started to walk off, Felix looked down at his phone, thinking if he should risk it. _‘What the hell, Ellen won’t be back ‘til January.’_ He stopped and turned around, still seeing Sam walking off in the opposite direction. He texted three words.

-/-/-/-/-

Sam stopped and grabbed his phone out of his pocket when it beeped.

_*Unknown Number: Sk8er Boi, really?*_

Turning around, he saw Felix smirking at him.

“Yeah, really. Who doesn’t love Avril Lavigne?” He shouted, smiling widely.

Felix rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly. “You’re a dork, Sam Conte.” He shouted back as he turned around and continued to walk back home.

-/-/-/-/-

While walking home, Felix and Sam texted each other back and forth and continued to once they had both arrived back home.

“So once again, nothing was wrong, and mum overreacted.” Oscar looked up from his sketchbook to see his older brother smiling and laughing to himself while typing on his phone.

“What’s up with you?”

Felix glanced up from his phone. “Huh?”

“You’re never this attached to your phone unless your iPod dies on a long car ride. Is Ellen going through hell on her holiday or something?” Oscar asked, wheeling himself over to Felix.

“Nah, it’s nothing.”

“Yeah, sure. Nothing.” Oscar said in a mocking tone as he snatched Felix’s phone.

“Oscie! Give it back!”

“Who the hell is _‘Sk8er Boi’_ ” Oscar muttered to himself as he saw the screen. Clicking on the contact profile, an image popped up next to the name. “Wait a minute, isn’t that one of the Conte boys?”

“Yes, it is.” Felix huffed, grabbing back his phone.

“When did this happen?”

“Today, at dad’s shop actually.”

Oscar raised an eyebrow at his older brother. “So, while I was bored out of my mind in hospital, you were making out with one of the most popular kids at school?”

“We were _not_ making out!” Felix felt his face flush. “We just hung out for a bit, that’s all.”

“But you _wanna_ make out with him.”

Felix chucked a pillow at Oscar, hitting him in the face. “Shut up!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just two absolute dorks hanging out together

Felix woke up to his phone beeping. He picked it up, squinted and looked at the time before throwing it down next to him on his bed and groaning. Rubbing the sleep out of his eye, he picked the device back up and looked at the message that woke him.

_*Sk8er Boi: Hey wanna hang out*_

_*Sk8er Boi: ?*_

He had been hanging out with Sam every day for the past week and was kind of amazed how quickly they had become friends with one another.

_*Who the fuck is up at 8 during holidays?*_ Felix texted back.

Before he could put his phone down, Felix received another text.

_*Sk8er Boi: Me*_

_*Sk8er Boi: And now u*_

_*Sk8er Boi: And since ur up we should hang*_

Felix sighed. _*Okay, give me 20 and I’ll meet you outside dad’s shop*_

Grabbing a clean t-shirt and a pair shorts he had been wearing the day before, Felix went to head to the house and have a shower but stopped. Picking up his phone once more, he smirked to himself as he clicked on Sam’s contact info and changed the name.

-/-/-/-/-

_*Airhead: Where r u?*_

_*Give me a sec, I’m basically a street away*_

Felix peered over from the side of his dad’s shop, seeing Sam standing out the front, tapping his foot rapidly and typing on his phone. Sneaking up behind the shorter boy, Felix jumped. “You are _so_ impatient!” He said as his feet hit the ground with a loud bang, startling Sam.

“ _Shit!_ Don’t fuckin’ _do_ that, Fe!” Sam said, punching Felix’s arm. “And I am _not_. _You_ just took forever.”

“Uh,” Felix pulled out his phone. “at 8:07 I texted you that I’d be here in 20 minutes, and would you look at that,” Felix pressed the off button on his phone, pressed it again and turned the device to Sam, showing him the home screen. “8:27.”

“Yeah, well… Shut up.”

-/-/-/-/-

They walked around town for a little while but quickly became fed up since there wasn’t much to do.

“Dude, I’m _super_ bored!” Sam whined.

“ _Dude_ ,” Felix said mockingly. “I’m not the one who wanted to hang out at the crack of dawn.”

“I get it, Fe. You can’t handle sunlight, you fuckin’ vampire.”

“Actually, I like sunlight it’s just that I _also_ like to _sleep._ _in_.”

Sam sighed. “Look, the way I see it, why waste the summer sleepin’ when you could be doing stuff like… skateboarding?”

“You’re _constantly_ skateboarding, Sam.”

“Or playing video games?” Sam continued. “Or swimming?”

“Well, one, I can’t skateboard, two, I suck at video games and three, we live nowhere near the beach.”

Sam stopped before looking up at the taller boy, smiling so wide it made Felix think that he might explode. “No, but there is some place we can go. Come on!” Sam grabbed Felix’s hand and took off.

-/-/-/-/-

“Where are we even goin’?” Felix asked, trying his best to keep up with Sam.

“You know that stream just outside town?”

“But we don’t even have swimmers.”

“Oh.” Sam looked behind Felix, seeing how far out of town they had gone. “Ah, fuck it. We’ll just swim in our undies.”

“Wait, what?”

“What?”

“I’m not swimming in my undies.”

“Why not?”

“We don’t even have towels; how will we get dry?”

“Felix, we live in Australia, we’ll be dry in like, two minutes. Also, we’ve already made it this far, come on, dude.”

Felix huffed. “Fine.”

-/-/-/-/-

Arriving at the stream, Sam let go of Felix’s hand, running off towards the water and jumping in once he was down to his undies while Felix followed behind. Sitting down, Felix undid his shoelaces while watching Sam swim around. Felix wasn’t all that confident in his body, he was very tall and lanky which had its advantages from time to time, but he got a lot of shit for it in the changing rooms back when he was forced to do P.E. in years 7, 8 and 9. He didn’t _hate_ his body, not really, but he wasn’t very comfortable being down to only his knickers. Once his shoes and socks were off, Felix decided to just wade his feet in the water.

Sam, noticing Felix sitting at the edge, swam over to the taller boy before pushing himself up and sitting next to him. “What’s up?”

Felix flicked his eyes down and quickly back up to Sam’s face, his face flushing slightly. _‘Yeah, nah. Not focusin’ on that.’_ He thought to himself. “Nothin’, I just don’t really feel like swimming, that’s all.”

“Oh. Dude, why didn’t you say somethin’?” Sam asked.

“Well, you kinda dragged me here without telling me what your plan was, so…”

Sam grimaced, looking down at the water. “Sorry, I get excited really easily and kinda forget that people don’t always think the same things are fun.”

“Honestly, Sam, it’s fine.” Felix thought for a moment. “How ‘bout we hang here for a bit longer then we go to my place where there’s air conditioning.”

Sam smiled. “Deal.”

-/-/-/-/-

An hour or so later, the two teens made their way over to Felix’s house. Walking through the front door and down the hallway, Felix and Sam saw Oscar sitting at the dining table.

“Hey Oscie, still workin’ on that comic?” Felix asked, walking into the kitchen.

“Yeah, I’m a little stuck plot-wise, but its gettin’ there.” Looking up, Oscar noticed the extra person in their household. “And you must be Sam.” Oscar said, smirking. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Oh, have you now?” Sam asked, looking over at Felix.

“Felix just doesn’t shut up about you.”

“Sam, coke?” Felix asked, trying to derail the conversation.

“Yeah, thanks.” Sam replied before turning his attention back to Oscar. “Now, what _exactly_ has your brother said about me?”

Oscar looked at Felix who was shaking his head frantically behind the kitchen bench. “Mostly that you wake him up early.” He said, recalling Felix’s grumbly conversation with himself as he passed Oscar on the way to the shower that morning.

“Oh.” Sam said, slightly disappointed.

“ _Anyway_ ,” Felix said, handing Sam a coke. “maybe Sam can have a look at some of your comics, Oscie.”

“Yeah,” Sam added, snapping out of it. “Felix was tellin’ me about them, I draw a little too.”

-/-/-/-/-

Sitting around in Felix’s room, Sam flicked through Oscar’s comics and drawings while he, Oscar and Felix talked.

“Okay, I’m gonna grab some food.” Felix said, standing up. “Don’t say anything embarrassing.” He whispered to his younger brother as he left the room.

Wheeling himself over to Sam, Oscar decided to use the lack of Felix’s presence to his advantage. “So, what do you think of Felix?” He asked.

“Uh, what do ya mean?” Sam asked as he placed the drawings down next to him.

“I just… He’s been hurt by a lot of people before and I just want to make sure that you’re not planning to bail on him or anything.”

Sam nodded. “Makes sense, I’m the same with my brothers.”

“Just, promise me you won’t hurt him, okay?”

Sam held up his left hand and raised his right hand over his heart. “Cross my heart, hope to die, dude.”


	3. Chapter 3

After promising Oscar, Sam asked if he could borrow some paper and a pencil. Once Felix had retuned to his room with chips and lollies in hand, he found the two laughing and drawing together. Felix was happy that Oscar liked Sam, but he knew that his little brother was more ecstatic that Felix was expanding his social circle beyond just Ellen.

“Whatcha drawin’?” He asked Sam as he chucked the snacks on table and sat down next to the shorter boy.

Sam shielded his artwork from Felix’s eyes. “None ya.”

“None ya what?”

“ _None ya business_.” Sam replied, smirking.

“Did you _really_ just fall for that?” Oscar asked as he grabbed some lollies. “Felix, I thought you were _smarter_ than this.”

“Shut up.” Felix grabbed a pillow from his bed and threw it at Oscar.

The pillow collided with Oscar’s face and fell to his lap. “Oh, you wanna go?”

Felix picked up another pillow and made his way over to his brother. “Oh, I wanna _go_.”

The two began to hit one another as Sam sat on Felix’s bed and watched. It was the happiest Sam had ever seen Felix, granted he hadn’t really known him for all that long. Sam put the drawing he was working on down, underneath a nearby book so Felix couldn’t see it and began to draw on another piece of paper, trying his best to replicate the general idea of what was happening in front of him.

-/-/-/-/-

Soon enough, it was time for Sam to go home. Both boys were a bit bummed out since they wouldn’t be hanging out together again until after Christmas. Felix decided to walk with Sam down his driveway.

“I have family coming over tomorrow and they’re stayin’ for a while, so I probably won’t see you for a bit…” Sam reached into his pocket, pulling out two pieces of paper folded up together. “Here.”

Taking the pieces of paper from Sam, Felix unfolded them, not realizing that it was more than one piece. The first one was a drawing of his and Oscar’s pillow fight from before. “Thanks, this really cool. I’m sure Oscar will really like it as well.”

“There’s another one, underneath it.” Sam said, biting his lip nervously.

Felix separated the papers, taking the first drawing and putting it behind the second. It was a drawing of Felix and only Felix, sitting down on his bed, diary in his lap and smiling. “ _Woah_. Sam, this, this is fuckin’ _amazing_! You’re really talented, you know that?”

“It’s really not that good.”

“Are you fuckin’ _kidding_ me?” Felix said, holding the drawing up next to his face. “Look at that!” Felix took his hand down and looked at the drawing again. “Seriously, Sam. It’s… I…” Felix quickly leaned down and kiss Sam on the cheek. “Thanks.”

Both boys’ faces flushed, and Felix reeled himself back. “Seeya, Merry Christmas!” He said as he turned around and quickly walked back up his driveway.

Felix could still see Sam when he stopped at the side of the house, waiting for the shorter boy to react.

Sam stood at the end of the driveway, stunned. He quickly reran the what had just happened in his head and began to laugh a bit, smiling widely to himself as he walked home.

Felix let out a sigh of relief and walked back to his room, butterflies still going crazy in his stomach.

-/-/-/-/-

Walking through the front door, Sam made his way over to the kitchen, still smiling to himself. “Hey, mum.” He said as he reached into the fridge, looking for something to snack on before tea.

“Hi, Sam. You seem happy.” Dee replied as she was cutting up potatoes.

“Yeah, I was just over at Felix’s house and met his brother.” Grabbing leftovers from the night before, Sam walked over to the TV room where his brothers were playing a video game, nudging each other, trying to one-up the other and attempting to cheat.

“Have fun on your _play_ _date_ , loser?” Vince asked.

“It _wasn’t_ a play date, and yeah, I did.” Sam said, smacking the back of his brother’s head. Sitting down, Sam pulled out his phone and began to text Felix while also sending his friends, Jake and Mia, a message too.

“What’s up with you?” Pete asked, setting down his controller on the coffee table and turning his attention to his youngest brother.

“What’d ya mean?”

“You’re all _smiley_ and… _giggly_.”

“Hey! I don’t _do_ giggly!” Sam replied as he put his phone down on the arm rest of his chair.

Pete reached over, snatched Sam’s phone and pressed the home button. “Oh. _OH!_ ” He saw a text from Mia pop up and put two and two together, smiling and handing Sam his phone back. “So, you and Mia are goin’ back out again?”

“ _What?_ No. We’re _friends_ , that’s it.” Sam said as he grabbed his phone back from his brother. He and Mia dated for a bit when they were in year 9 and Sam’s entire family loved her. After a while though, Sam and Mia both agreed that they were better off as friends.

“Then what, you goin’ out with your _‘play date’_?”

That threw Sam off. “ _No_. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No. We’re _just_ friends.”

“~ _Sammy’s got a crush~_ ” Vince sang loudly.

“I do _not!_ And _don’t_ call me that!”

Pete decided to join Vince in torturing their younger brother.

“ _~Sammy’s got a crush, Sammy’s got a crush~_ ” His older brothers snag repeatedly.

“ _MUM!_ TELL THEM TO _STOP!”_ Sam shouted.

“Boys! Leave Sam alone!” Dee said, walking out of the kitchen.

Sam smiled smugly at his brothers as his mother walked into the TV room and gave him a hug from behind.

“Anyway, if Sam’s got a crush, that’s fine. As long as I get to meet him.” Dee added, turning her attention to her youngest son.

Sam’s face flushed. “Wha- _Mum!_ ”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, but I'm pretty proud of how it turned out

When Felix was little, his family would go down to the local football grounds and watch the end of year fireworks as many other families in Bremin did. After Oscar had his accident, their parents didn’t want Oscar outside at night unless he was in the backyard and Felix never felt like going to the event by himself. New Years was kind of a mixed bag when it came to emotions for Felix. Sometimes, he’d focus on the positives, another year gone; another year closer to getting out of Bremin. But the negatives would still be there, pounding around in his head at night. New year means back to school ads, which means back to school shopping, which means having to face another year _at_ school.

Three loud knocks disrupted Felix from his thoughts. Looking over to his window, Felix saw Sam standing outside his room, waving to him.

“What are you doin’ here?” Felix asked, standing up from the couch.

“I’m taking you out.” Sam walked around to the door. “I-I mean, not out, out. Not, not like a date or anything.”

Felix brushed it off. “Okay, where we goin’?”

“Just to the shack. There’s an awesome view of the fireworks from there.”

“Why not just go to the footy grounds?”

“I just thought, you don’t seem like the most _social_ person.” Sam swung his backpack off his shoulder. “And I was thinking we could camp out there for the night, there’s already some sleeping bags up there, you just need to grab a pillow and some clothes. Plus…” Opening the bag, Sam rummaged through it before smiling and pulling out a packet of sparklers and a packet of glowsticks. “It’s not much, but it’s something.”

-/-/-/-/-

After stuffing a bag with some clothes and taking a pillow off Felix’s bed, the two went inside the house to grab some junk food and let Oscar know that they were heading off.

“You have your phone?”

“Yeah.”

“Clothes?”

“Yep.”

“Food?”

Felix sighed as he turned to dig through the cupboard. “Yes, Oscie. We’re gonna be fine.”

Oscar held his hands up. “I’m sorry for worrying about my brother goin’ off with a _boy._ At _night_.” He said, looking over at Sam.

Felix flicked the back of his brother’s head as he walked over to his bag with a big bag filled with small chip packets. “It’s not like that and you _know_ it.”

“You got a torch?” Oscar asked, changing the subject.

Felix looked through his bag before heading over to the laundry.

While his older brother was gone, Oscar raised his hand and pointed to his eyes and then to Sam while mouthing _‘I’m watching you.’_ He liked Sam, really, he did, but there was some part of him that was afraid Sam would break his promise.

“Got it. Let’s go.” Felix said, grabbing his bag and stuffing the torch in it. “We’re going!” Felix yelled to the back of the house, where his parents were sitting, watching tv. They both just murmured a goodbye, not really paying attention as the two boys left. “Seeya Oscie.”

-/-/-/-/-

Once they got to the shack, Sam pulled out the packet of glowsticks and began to distribute them between the two of them while Felix set up the sleeping bags and lit some of the lamps with his lighter.

“So, how was your Christmas?” Sam asked as he began to connect some of his glowsticks together.

“Uh, same old, same old really. Woke up, did presents and went to back to bed. You?”

“Loud. Very, _very_ loud. Three generations of Conte’s, plus food.”

Felix laughed. “Sounds hectic.”

“It _was_. But my brothers, cousins and I had a full-on water balloon fight which I, of course, won.”

“Oh, you are _so_ humble.”

Sam smiled widely at the taller boy, handing him a bunch of glowsticks. “I _really_ _am_ , aren’t I?”

-/-/-/-/-

They spent the next hour or so putting together their glowsticks to create wristbands and necklaces, playing with sparklers and talking about nothing and yet, everything. As Felix’s last sparkler was lit, Sam pulled out his phone at took pictures of the goth making shapes and pretending to be a wizard like he was a little kid again.

Once the sparker had finally died out, the two laid down on the grass and looked at the stars, remaining quiet for a while, just being able to hear sounds coming from the football grounds.

“Hey, Sam? What’s it gonna be like? Ya know, when school starts up?” Felix asked, fiddling with his hands.

“What’d ya mean?”

“With us, hangin' out?”

“Oh. Well, I guess we’ll hang out on the weekends, sometimes.”

Felix frowned a little. “And, at school?”

Sam hummed, thinking to himself for a moment. “We’ll just hang out with our other friends. I mean, you don’t really get on with my mates, so it’ll probably be best if we just keep this out of school.”

 “ _Oh._ ” Felix was a bit hurt. He had become quite attached to Sam and it didn’t help that he had gained some ‘more than friends’ type of feelings towards the shorter boy, but he understood where Sam was coming from. They were two very different people with very different social standings so he decided that it would probably be the best way to go about it.

Sam pulled out his phone took look at the time. “11:58.” He said, lifting his body up with his hands to sit. “Come on, dude.” He reached for Felix’s hand to help the taller boy sit up.

Looking down at their hands linked together, Felix felt a small amount of courage rise up in his chest. _‘This is it, all I have to do is lean over and kiss him. No big deal.’_ “Hey, Sam?”

“Yeah?” Sam replied, looking up at Felix.

Felix felt his heart in his throat. _‘No big deal at all, really. None whatsoever.’_ “I-I…” He couldn’t do it. “Happy New Year.”

Sam smiled up at him. “Happy New Year, Fe.”

As the fireworks began, Felix sighed to himself. _‘Coward.’_


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took even _longer_ than the last chapter, got stuck in a rut for a bit.

Sam woke up with several, now dead, glowsticks still wrapped around both his arms and a small, opened packet of chips in his sleeping bag. Slowly pushing himself up, he turned to face Felix, who was still fast asleep and slightly drooling.

_‘Okay, how the fuck am I finding that cute?’_ He thought to himself as he stood up and began to pack up his things. Sam knew that Felix liked to sleep in _way_ longer than he did, so he decided to leave the goth boy alone for a bit.

While packing up, Sam thought over the events from the night before. He kept replaying the conversation they had had just before midnight over and over again in his head. Felix had seemed a bit bummed out when Sam said that they probably should keep their friendship on the down low but the two were the opposite of each other socially. It just didn’t seem _possible_ for a friendship like that to work while at school. And it seemed that Felix wanted to say something before the fireworks, something instead of ‘Happy New Year’. Sam just couldn’t figure out what.

Walking over to the goth, Sam pulled out his phone and took a photo of the sleeping boy since it was a pretty funny sight which could be used for Felix’s contact info on his phone. But looking through the photos he took the night before, Sam landed on one of Felix sitting down on the ground, knees up to his chest and a hand running through his hair. Sam made it the contact photo and looked at it a bit longer, before being startled slightly as something bumped his ankle. Looking down, he saw Felix move around a little before pushing himself up to sit.

“Mornin’” Felix mumbled as he rubbed the sleep out of his eye.

“Mornin’, you sleep alright?”

“Yeah, pretty well. You?”

Sam nodded. “Yeah, I woke up a little while ago, so I cleaned up.”

Felix pushed himself up and out of his sleeping bag, standing up. “You didn’t have to do that, ya know? You could’ve woken me up to help, I wouldn’t’ve mind.”

Sam raised an eyebrow.

“…Okay, _yeah_. I would’ve been a little bitch about it, but it was my mess too.”

“There really wasn’t that much to clean up, dude.” Sam said, reaching for his backpack while Felix packed away his things. “By the way, mum wants you to come over for tea sometime this week.”

Felix looked up. “Really? Why?”

Sam ran his hand through his hair, nervously. “Uh, she knows that I haven’t really been spend as much time at home as I usually do during holidays, and I may have mentioned you once… or twice…”  

“Um, okay. I’ll have to check with my parents, but they probably wouldn’t notice me missing anyway.”

Sam frowned. Through-out the summer, he had noticed that Felix had some sort of _issue_ with his parents and after they had left Felix’s the night before and set up camp in the shack, the taller boy had finally explained that his relationship with his parents had been very strained since Oscar’s accident. And it didn’t help that Felix blamed himself. It also became apparent to Sam that the closer they got, the more Felix would make causal comments about his home-life and hating himself, and Sam didn’t like it one bit. “I’m sure that they would, Fe.”

Felix took a deep breath and sighed. “ _Anyway_ , I’ll probably be able to go.”

-/-/-/-/-

It was the 3rd of January when Ellen and her family came back home from being away for Christmas and New Years. Since the beginning of the summer holidays, Felix had been texting Ellen on and off while she was interstate with her family at her auntie’s house. Felix had mentioned that he and Sam Conte, of all people, had started to hang out while she was gone and Ellen just thought it was some weird, bizarre joke that he had come up with to pass the time, so showing up at Felix’s house to find Sam sitting there talking animatedly to Felix and Oscar was a _bit_ of a shock.

“You have _got_ to be _kidding_ me.” Ellen said, making Sam stop talking and all three boys look in her direction.

“ _Ellen!_ Hey, I didn’t know you were back yet! How’s it going?” Felix greeted her as he stood up from the couch.

“I texted you that I’d be back _today_.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t think it’d be _this_ … early.”

Sam got up and walked over to the two. “Ellen, right? I’m Sam.” He said, sticking out his hand.

Ellen glared up at him. “ _Bite_ _me_.”

Sam held his arms up in surrender and walked back over to Oscar. “Jeez, what’d I do to her?”

“Exist.” Oscar answered him.

“I can’t _believe_ this! You’ve been spending the summer with this _poser_. Of _all_ _people_?” Ellen asked, gesturing over to Sam.

“Yeah, I have. And he’s actually not that bad, Ellen. He’s really nice and fun to hang around and I _really_ like him. So, could you maybe, _just_ maybe, try to not murder him?” Felix asked. “ _Please?_ ”

Ellen crossed her arms and sighed. “ _Fine_. But he better not push it, or I’ll maim his pretty little face.” She murmured with some bite to her voice.

Sam smirked. “You think I’m pretty? Thanks Ellen.” He replied, sarcastically. He gave her a once over. “Not so bad yourself.”

Ellen blushed, glaring at her best friend’s apparent _new_ friend. “Shut up.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one's so short, it's just feelings and shit, so...

Ellen and Oscar peered out the window to the bottom of the driveway where Felix and Sam were saying goodbye to each other. Ellen, surprisingly, didn’t mind Sam after a while. He was nice to her, even when she made constant jabs at his expense, he could understand Oscar’s tangents about drawing and comics and was invested in the wild, imaginative ideas the younger boy came up with and, most importantly, he made Felix happy.

“Felix _really_ likes him, doesn’t he?” Ellen asked, watching her best friend smile so widely that she thought his face might break.

“Yeah, he does. Sam’s almost all he ever talks about. They text each other day and night and hang out all the time.” Oscar confirmed.

Ellen peered out the window again, this time, paying more attention to Sam. He was laughing at something the taller boy had said, sticking his hands in his pockets as he rocked back and forth on his feet.  “He likes him too.” She said, quietly. “What if he hurts him?” She asked, turning back to Oscar.

“Then you and I, will _hunt_ him down, tear him _limb_ from _limb_ and make him wish he was _never_ born.” Oscar replied.

Ellen smiled. “Sounds like a plan.” She said, looking out the window one last time to see Felix walking up the driveway as Sam stared at him, smiling his arse off, before finally grabbing his skateboard off from the grass next to the driveway and skating away.

“Sorry that took so long,” Felix said, entering his room. “his mum invited me over for tea sometime this week, so we were just workin’ that out.”

“Sooo…” Ellen started as she sat down on the sofa. “Sam Conte, huh?”

Felix nodded. “Yeah.”

“Popular, preppy airhead, Sam Conte?”

_*Ding*_

Felix nodded again as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Yup.” He immediately unlocked it and started to type back, smiling from ear to ear.

Ellen examined his body language. “Popular, preppy airhead, Sam Conte who you’ve developed a bit of a crush on?” She asked, innocently.

Felix’s head snapped up. “Wha- _no_. I- I don’t have a _crush_ on him.”

“You told me you tried to kiss him _just_ the other day.” Oscar interjected.

“ _You tried to kiss him?!?_ ” Ellen asked, as her eyes widened in surprise.

“On New Years, no less.” Oscar added, smirking as his older brother glared at him.

Ellen’s eyes widened even more. “ _On New Years?!?_ ”

Felix sat down on the couch, sighing as he rolled his head back. “I may have… _thought_ about it… but I backed out last second.” He replied, sounding somewhat ashamed of himself.

“I can’t _believe_ this. Felix Ferne; secret romantic and _absolute_ _chicken_.” Ellen said, hitting the taller goth in the chest with the back of her hand.

Felix lifted his right arm and laid it over his eyes. “Shut up. I kept trying to calm myself down in my head and then he looked at me and I… I just… couldn’t risk it.” Flopping the top half of his body forwards, Felix directed his eyesight down, his arms resting over his legs. “I really like him… a _lot_. I don’t want to screw it up.”

“And how, _pray_ _tell_ , would you do that?” Ellen questioned.

Felix turned his head towards her, lifted his right hand and pointed to his chest. “It’s _me_ , I _always_ manage to screw things up.”

Oscar wheeled himself over behind the couch, stopping next to Felix and hitting him on the back of his head. “ _Oi!_ Don’t talk shit about my brother.” He said, pointing at Felix.

“ _Anyway_ ,” Ellen continued as Felix rubbed the back of his head and glared at his younger brother. “Sam seems to like you back, so maybe you should just… go for it?”

Felix moved his hand down to rub the back of his neck. “I dunno, El.”

Ellen raised her legs onto the sofa and crossed them so she could look at Felix directly. “How ‘bout this? You guys hang out during the rest of summer holidays and see what happens. And if you feel confident enough, you can make a move before school starts up.”

Oscar nudged Felix’s arm with his fist. “If Sam doesn’t do it before you do.”

Felix moved his gaze back and forth between the two. “You guys are the best, ya know that?”

Ellen scrunched up her nose, smiling. “We really _are_ , aren’t we?”


	7. Chapter 7

“Jake!” Mia yelled, running up to the boy. “How was your Christmas?”

“Well, the week and a half with dad and his side of the family wasn’t _too_ bad. There was a lot of singing along badly to Aussie Christmas Carols and I couldn’t really talk to anyone ‘bout anything besides footie. The other week and a half with mum’s family was pretty alright, ‘cept Auntie Kath occasionally being a bit bitchy.” Jake replied as he turned in the direction of Sam’s house. “You?”

“Oh, ya know, chocolate for breakfast, huge lunch and watching the Royal Variety Performance.” Mia said as she caught up to Jake. “Have you heard from Sam? We texted back and forth from time to time, but he hasn’t been as responsive as he usually is.”

Jake frowned a bit. “Yeah, I noticed that too. Maybe he’s just been busy with family.”

“Yeah, maybe…” Mia dragged off as they headed to boy in question’s house.

-/-/-/-/-

After knocking on the door, the two teens were greeted by Dee. “Jake, Mia! Haven’t seen you two ‘round for a bit! How’ve you been?”

Jake and Mia both nodded. “Good.” They replied.

“That’s good.” Dee said, leading the two through the house. “Sam didn’t mention you two coming over. I thought it’d just be Felix today.”

Jake and Mia stopped, looking at each other and back to Dee in confusion.

“...Felix?” Mia asked.

“Yeah, Sam’s been talking non-stop about that boy. He’s finally coming over tonight for dinner.” Dee walked around into the kitchen. “You two want anything to drink?”

“Uh, no thank you, Mrs. Conte.” Jake replied.

“Okay, Sam’s just up in his room.”

Waving goodbye bye to Dee, Jake turned to Mia once they had reached the hallway. “Felix? As in, Ferne? As in, Freaky Goth kid, Felix?”

“I guess, do you know any other Felix’s in Bremin?” Mia asked.

Jake shook his head.

“Yeah, me neither. And don’t call him a freak. Just because he likes different things doesn’t mean you should call him names.” Mia said, thumping Jake on the chest.

“Ow!” Jake said, rubbing his chest. “That fuckin’ _hurt_ , Mia!”

Mia pushed open Sam’s bedroom door which was slightly ajar. There was definitely something up with Sam.

“Oh… my god… I can see your _floor!_ ” Mia exclaimed.

Sam, startled by the two, hit his head from where he was slightly underneath his bed, fishing around through rubbish and dirty clothes. “ _Fuck!_ ” Moving out from under his bed, he looked up to see Mia and Jake standing in the doorway. “Hey, didn’t know you guys’ were back yet!” He said standing up.

“You’re cleaning…” Jake said, dumbfounded.

Sam nodded. “Yeah, thought it was time to clear it out a bit, ya know?”

“Your mum ask you to do it?” Mia asked.

“Nah, I was beginning to get lost in here.” Sam replied.

“So…” Mia began as she walked into the somewhat clean room. “it has nothing to do with… Felix?”

Sam’s eyes widened. “Wha-?”

“Your mum mentioned that she only expected Felix to come over today.” Jake stated. “Funny thing, I don’t remember you hangin’ out with any Felix. And the only Felix I know of, is that _freakshow,_ Ferne.”

“He’s _not_ a freakshow!” Sam defended.

Jake and Mia both stared at the short boy, a tad shocked to hear him protect a kid that they didn’t even really know.

“He’s not.” Sam continued, looking down. “He’s really funny, and cool, and actually pretty fun to hang out with.”

“Okay, so why haven’t you mentioned him before?” Mia asked as she sat down on the bed.

“’Cause I know that Jake doesn’t like him, like, at _all_. And honestly, I don’t even know really. One day I’m at his dad’s shop, asking him to hang out cause I’m _bored as shit_ and next thing I know, I’m hangin’ around him constantly and he’s all I think about.” Sam replied, flopping down next to Mia. “I’m not even goin’ to hang out with him at school.”

“I’m sorry, _what?_ ” Mia asked, grabbing Sam’s arm and pulling him up into a sitting position. “What do you mean, ‘not going to hang out at school’?”

“Well, we have different social standings and like I said before, Jake doesn’t like him. Trent and Dylan don’t like him.”

“But, he’s your _friend_. Why shouldn’t he hang out with us?” Mia suddenly got an idea. “He’s _gonna_ hang out with us!”

“Wha- _Mia!_ No, no _way!_ ” Jake exclaimed. “Sam just made some really good points about why Dracula shouldn’t hang out with us!”

Sam glared up at Jake. “Dude! Stop with the name calling!”

“Look, we all hang out together for one day during this summer, _one_ _day_. If we don’t get along, fine, you have a reason to not hang out with him at school. But it might go well.” Mia turned to Sam. “Have you met any of his friends?”

“Uh, that girl he always hangs around with, Ellen, and his little brother, Oscar.” Sam replied.

“Invite them too.” Mia looked around the room. “You trying to get this place spotless for tonight?”

Sam nodded. “Just in case we hang out in here. Felix can be pretty clumsy.”

“And you wanna impress him?” Mia asked.

“…And I wanna impress him.” Sam mumbled.

“Alright.” Mia said, standing up. “Where should we start?”

“ _We?_ ” Jake asked.

“Yes, _we_.” Mia said, walking towards Sam wardrobe.

“But-“

Mia glared across the room at the taller boy. “ _Jacob!_ We are helping.”

Jake sighed. “Fine.” He grumbled. “Let me guess,” He turned to Sam. “You stuffed everything in your wardrobe.

Sam nodded. “Yeah…”

Mia opened the wardrobe, making everything fall out. She sighed. “For _fuck’s_ _sake_ , Sam.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Sam's dad isn't there cause I couldn't remember his name (If it was mentioned in the show at all)  
> and 2. I really just like having these two dorks hang out on driveways, apparently

Felix hesitated to knock on the front door for a moment. He was never great with friends’ families when he was younger, and he knew a lot of parents were a tad weary of both him and Ellen for how they looked. Taking a deep breath, Felix lifted his arm to knock, only for the door to open before he could.

A tall, young man smiled widely at Felix as he held the door open. Felix recognized him as Sam’s oldest brother, Pete, who had graduated high school two years beforehand. “Hey Sammy, your boyfriend’s here!” He yelled.

“I told you _not_ to call me that! And he’s _not_ my boyfriend!” Could be heard from the other side of the house.

Pete scrunched up his face, smiling. “He’ll be down in a sec.” He said, gesturing for Felix to step inside.

“…Cool.” Felix replied, awkwardly.

“So _this_ is the boyfriend Sammy keeps tellin’ us about.” Vince Conte said, walking down the hallway. “I’m Vince and that boofhead is Pete.”

Pete reached over and smacked his brother on the back of the head. “You’re the boofhead, boofhead.”

Vince hit him back. “Nah-uh.”

“Yeah-huh.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

Sam leaned over in-between his both of his brothers’ shoulders on his tippy toes as they bickered. “You’re both boofheads. Now rack off.” He walked around his brothers over to Felix. “Hey dude.”

“Mum! Sam called Vince and I boofheads!” Pete yelled.

Sam turned back towards his brothers. “Seriously? You are _such_ a dibber-dobber!”

“Sam, apologize to your brothers!” Dee Conte yelled back from the kitchen.

“They started it!” Sam replied.

“Then you can all apologize to our guest for being rude hosts.” Dee said as she left the kitchen and walked over to the boys. “You must be Felix! I’m sorry for my sons’ behaviors.”

Felix stuffed his hands in his pockets. “It’s fine, I have a younger brother so it’s kinda normal to me.”

“That’s right, you’re Kathy and Ken’s son, yeah?” Dee asked.

Felix nodded. “Yeah, Sam and I actually started to hang out after we bumped into each other at my dad’s shop.”

“Oh, we _know_.” Vince piped up.

“Sammy here, came home all smiley and wouldn’t shut up about it.” Pete added.

“Okay, that’s enough. Felix and I are going to my room.” Sam said, grabbing Felix’s hand and pulling the taller boy down the hallway.

The older Conte boys looked at each other. “ _~Sammy and Felix sitting in a tree~_ ” They began to sing.

“Shut up!” Sam yelled as he closed the door. He quickly opened it again “And _don’t_ _call_ _me_ _that!_ ” Closing the door again, he turned to Felix who was now sitting on his bed. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

“’S okay, you’ve seen Oscar and I do shit like that all summer.” Felix said as he looked around the room. “Woah… your room…”

Sam glanced around to make sure everything was okay. “…What about it?” He asked.

“It’s so… _clean_.”

Sam sighed in relief. “Yeah, Jake and Mia came by earlier and helped me out with it.”

Felix looked at him like he had sprouted an extra head. “Jake Riles… being _helpful?_ ”

“He’s been one of my best friends since primary school.” Sam replied as he sat down next to him. “And he’s not so bad once you get to know him. Which reminds me…” The shorter boy began to fiddle with his hands out of nervousness. “My mum told Mia and Jake that you were comin’ over so they asked me about it, and after telling them, Mia suggested that we should all hang out together.”

“Me and _Jake Riles_ , hang out?” Felix laughed until he saw the look on Sam’s face. “Wait, you’re _serious?_ Sam, he’ll skin me _alive!_ ”

“He won’t, promise. And you can bring Ellen and Oscar too, that way it’s not _too_ weird.” Sam clasped his hands together. “Come on, Fe. _Please?_ ”

Felix looked down to see Sam pulling some puppy dog eyes up at him. “Fine.” He sighed. “But if I die, all my belongings go to Oscar and Ellen.”

Sam stood up, hand to his chest in mock offence. “What, am I nothing to you?”

Felix smirked. “Fine, you can have my lucky guitar pick.”

“Why’s it lucky?” Sam asked.

Felix stood up. “It’s not, it was my first pick so I just call it lucky.”

Sam sighed dramatically. “I guess it’ll do.”

There was a knock on the door. “Dinner’s ready.” Pete said.

-/-/-/-/-

“That was really nice, Mrs. Conte. Thank you.” Felix said as he placed down his knife and fork down on his plate.

“I’m glad you liked it, Felix. It was nice to see a teenage boy _not_ eat like a wild animal for _once_.” Dee said as she picked up Felix’s plate along with Sam’s.

Sam rolled his eyes. “We’re not _that_ bad, mum.”

Felix chuckled. “Uh, Sam. You got a little something on your face.”

Sam quickly wiped the side of his mouth with the back of his hand. “Got it?”

Felix nodded. “Got it.”

“So, Felix…” Vince said walking towards the table with his hands behind his back. “How would you like to…” As Vince sat back down next to Pete, he plopped a large folder-like book on the table. “take a walk down _‘Conte Memory Lane’_?”

“Hell yeah!” Felix replied, immediately on board.

“Or we could, ya know, _not do that_.” Sam said as he tried to grab the photo album.

“This is when Sam was first born, and this is when Sam first began skateboarding.” Vince started as he began to flip through the pages of photos.

“And this was Sam’s 4th birthday, as you can see, he has always had the knack for covering himself in food.” Pete added, pointing to a picture of a younger Sam covered in cake. “And here is Sam’s Year 2 class photo. I remember this one time, back when Sam was in this class, he came home bawling his eyes out to mum and dad, ‘cause he peed his pants.”

“Yeah, and to make sure that he wasn’t blamed for it, he grabbed his water bottle and sprayed some other kid, saying that it was him.” Vince added, laughing.

Felix looked down awkwardly before grabbing the photo album and turning it towards himself. “Yeah, I know. I was in that class.” He said, pointing to a boy standing at the back of the class photo with short, brown hair. “That’s me, right there. And I was the kid who got blamed for that.”

All three of the Conte boys glanced at each other until Pete broke the silence. “Nicely done, Samuel.” He said, sarcastically.

“Nah, it’s fine. Sam came up to me the next day to apologize and Ellen almost ripped his head off.” Felix said, smiling a little at the memory.

Vince perked up a bit. “That’s right, he came up to me at recess that day and said some girl tried to kill him.”

“She _did!_ ” Sam butt in. “I think she scarred me for life. Or a week at _least_.”

-/-/-/-/-

Felix and Sam walked down to the end of the driveway.

“Thanks for having me over.” Felix said as they reached the bottom.

“It’s cool, sorry you had to deal with my brothers.” Sam replied.

“Nah, they were pretty fun to hang with.”

“Aw, thanks Felix!” Could be head from the house. The two boys looked up to see both Vince and Pete sticking the heads out the front door.

“No problem!” Felix shouted back up at them before turning to Sam. “I’ll asked Ellen about that hang out when I get home, Oscar will probably be up for it.”

Sam smiled. “Cool.”

“ _Kiss him! Kiss him! Kiss him!_ ” The older Conte boys began to chant.

Sam glared up and over to his brothers and chucked a rude finger up at them.

While Sam was distracted by his brothers, Felix quickly leaned down and kissed the shorter boy on the cheek. “I’ll text you!” He shouted as he began to walk off.

Sam blushed and began to walk up the driveway as Pete and Vince cheered and chanted. “ _Conte! Conte! Conte!_ ”


	9. Chapter 9

“I can’t _believe_ that you’re making me hang out with those preppy jerks!” Ellen said, sitting down at the table set up in Felix’s backyard. “I know I said that Sam wasn’t _that_ bad, but this is just _too_ weird.”

“Look, Ellen, I’m not all that happy either, but Sam has hung out with you guys before, I might as well attempt to get along with _his_ friends.” Felix said as he brought out two bottles of Coke and a bottle of Sprite.

Ellen crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. “Difference is, _we_ don’t suck.”

Oscar laughed. “Honestly Felix, I’m all for expanding your social circle and whatnot but, _Jake Riles?_ He’s egged our house. Several times!”

Felix collapsed in the chair next to Ellen. “I know, I know. But he’s Sam’s best friend, I’ve got to at least _try_ to make this work.”

-/-/-/-/-

“I can’t _believe_ you’re makin’ me hang out with those _freaks!_ ” Jake said to Mia as Sam walked down his driveway. He turned his attention to the shorter boy. “And that _you_ thought it was a good idea.”

“Jake, stop with the whole ‘freaks’ thing.” Mia scolded.

Sam sighed. “Dude, I know you hate it but, Felix is _really_ important to me, so if you could just lay off the dickhead routine for just _one_ _day_ …”

Jake frowned. “ _Fine_. But don’t expect me to be a saint.”

-/-/-/-/-

Sam rounded the corner to Felix’s backyard with Jake and Mia in tow. “Dude!” He said loudly, jumping on Felix’s back.

Felix wrapped an arm around Sam’s leg while putting his cup of Coke down on the table, trying his best to stay stable. “Sam! You can’t just do that!”

Sam got off of Felix’s back and moved so he was standing next to the taller boy. “I just did. And, hey! I got you to smile.” He replied as he poked the side of Felix’s face.

Jake and Mia watched the boys interact, surprised by how close the two seemed to have become with one another. “This is weird, yeah?” Jake asked quietly. “Like, ‘bizzarro alternative universe’ level of weird, right?”

Mia just nodded as Oscar wheeled over to them. “Mia, right? I’ve seen you around school.” He looked over to Jake. “And I definitely know you.” He said, glaring up at the jock. “Word of advice? Egging someone’s house is a shitty move and my mum would _love_ _it_ if you stopped.” Oscar smiled up at the two as he finished.

Ellen laughed loudly as she watched the exchange unfold.

Mia turned towards Jake. “You. _Egg._ _Houses_?”

Jake held up his hands. “Only this one and only after a footy win. For good luck.”

Mia and Sam looked at their friend appalled, as Felix, Ellen and Oscar all rolled their eyes. Mia reached up and hit the back of Jake’s head.

“Oww! Fuckin’ _hell_ , Mia!”

-/-/-/-/-

“So,” Sam started as he followed Felix into the house. “how ya think it’s going?”

Felix sighed and leaned back on the wall behind him. “Ellen hasn’t killed anyone yet, so… _that’s_ a positive.”

“Maybe we should leave them by themselves for a bit, see how it goes?” Sam asked, peering outside through the door for a quick second.

Felix looked at Sam like he was mental. “Are you _insane?_ It’ll be _war!_ ”

“We’ll be gone five minutes, _ten_ tops.” Sam said as he grabbed Felix’s hand and tugged him towards the kitchen.

“ _Fine_. But you’re helping me clean up the blood.”

-/-/-/-/-

“Okay, they’ve been gone for like, _an hour!_ ” Ellen huffed as she slid back in her chair.

Jake played around with his cup. “They’re probably off makin’ out or something.”

“Nah, but they’re probably makin’ googly eyes at each other while the other isn’t looking.” Oscar added. “It’s been like that all summer.”

“Really?” Mia asked. “It can’t be _that_ bad.”

Oscar turned to face her. “Since the day they started hangin’ out, Felix has been glued to his phone. And the closest thing either of them has done to makin’ a move is the two times Felix kissed Sam on the cheek and the one time he went to kiss Sam but chickened out.”

Jake sat up straighter. “Woah, _what?_ He tried to _kiss_ Sam?” He asked. “When did _that_ happen?”

“New Years.” Oscar replied. “He wouldn’t shut up ‘bout it for _days!_ ”

Mia nodded. “ _That_ makes sense. Sam told us Felix acted a little weird on New Years.”

Jake chuckled. “Felix is a little weird in _general_.”

Ellen threw an empty cup at Jake’s head, hitting him in the forehead. “Enough with the ‘weird’ shit, okay?”

Jake rubbed the spot where he had been hit. “Okay, fine.” He huffed. “It’s a bit strange Sam hasn’t made a move though. He’s always goes for it when he likes someone, and he obviously likes Felix. I mean, he looks at the guy like he’s the fuckin’ _sun_ , for fuck’s sake!”

“ _Right?!?_ ” Ellen agreed. “They’re both so oblivious it makes me want to _gorge my eyes out!_ ”

“So, what do we do about it?” Jake asked.

The other three looked at him, surprised.

“What?” Jake moved his gaze along the three of them before sighing. “ _Look_ , Sam’s my best mate, has been for a _long_ time. I just want him to be happy. And any _moron_ can see that Felix makes him happy.”

Mia smiled at her friend. “ _Exactly_. But I think we should just leave it alone.”

“ _What?_ ” Oscar asked. “Why?”

“We shouldn’t mess with it, ya know? They’ll figure it out when _they_ figure it out.” Mia sat back in her chair thinking for a second before smirking. “But we can still tease them and shit.”

“Alright!” Jake and Oscar said in unison.

The four paused before bursting out with laughter.

The back door opened with Sam peering his head out. “…You guys… _okay?_ ” He asked as he walked out into the backyard, holding the door open for Felix who looked just as concerned.

Jake smiled “Yeah, yeah, we’re fine.” He stood up and walked over to the other boys. “Ya know, Ferne, you and your band of weirdos aren’t all that bad.”

Felix looked at the jock suspiciously. “… _Thanks?_ ”

“I _mean_ it.” Jake said, honesty in his voice. “We should hang out more often, but maybe next time you guys could actually, I dunno, _stick around?_ ”

Sam tilted his head. “What do you mean? We were only gone for ten minutes or so.”

“More like _an hour_ and ten minutes.” Ellen said, holding up her phone to display the time.

“ _Sam!_ ” Felix hit the shorter boy’s shoulder. “You said ten minutes _tops!_ ”

“You _know_ I get distracted around food and hey,” Sam gestured around. “it’s not like anyone died!”


	10. Chapter 10

The last day of summer holidays was always bittersweet for Sam. The end of holidays meant no more staying up late every night, sleeping in everyday or eating whenever you wanted, but it also meant seeing your mates every day. The end of these holidays where a bit different though since Felix was now apart of Sam’s life. A _huge_ part actually, which Sam _definitely_ didn’t expect when he had first asked the goth to hang out back in December. But with February just around the corner, it was time for the to boys to discuss how their friendship would work with school and whether or not ‘friendship’ was the right word to use.

“So, what are you dreadin’ most?” Sam asked, looking towards the sky.

Felix glanced over to the skater from where he was lying on the ground. “What? At school?”

“Yeah.”

Felix moved his gaze back up and watched the clouds go by. “Um, probably any class I don’t have with Ellen. She helps make school less boring, ya know?”

“I’m sure I can help you out with that if we have classes together.”

“You’re not talkin’ to me at school, remember?”

Sam frowned. “Right… _right_.” He pushed his himself up and moved into a sitting position. “…You’re okay with that, right? The whole _‘not hangin’ at school’_ thing?”

Felix moved to sit up and turned to face the shorter boy. “Yeah, I don’t really wanna interact with your mates. Except Mia and Jake, of course.” The goth began to chuckle.

Sam raised an eyebrow. “What? What’s so funny?”

“I can’t _believe_ that we live in a universe where I don’t mind hangin’ out with _Jake Riles!_ ”

Sam nudged the other boy with his shoulders. “I told you he wasn’t _so_ bad.”

Felix smiled. “Yeah, yeah you did.” He looked back up to the passing clouds. “Also, what would everyone think with us hangin’ out? _‘The Freak and The Pretty Boy, friends?’_ You’d ruin my rep!” He said, jokingly.

Sam laughed at little but inside, the young skater started to think about how he’d been having the same thought but in a serious manner. He knew Felix would bring down his reputation a fair amount and while Sam wished he was above petty things like school yard popularity, he knew he wasn’t. So, he decided to focus on something else the goth had said.

“You think I’m pretty?”

Felix’s eyes widened as is face flushed. “ _Wha- no._ No.” He kept his eyesight on the sky.

Sam took in the reaction he had gotten and decided to throw caution to the wind. “Felix, you know I like you, right?”

Felix’s sight was still on the clouds as he responded. “ _Well, y-yeah._ You wouldn’t hang out with me if you hated me.”

Sam fiddled with his hands. He had a chance to back out, but he knew he’d never live it down if he did. “I don’t like you a just a _friend_ though… I like you a bit more than that…” He scrunched his eyes up, regretting every decision he had made up to this point in his life.

Then, for a very brief moment, Sam felt pressure on his lips.

He opened his eyes to see Felix, once again looking at the sky, face even redder than before.

“Did… did you just… _kiss_ … me?” Sam asked quietly.

The taller boy avoided eye contact.

“ _Felix?_ Do you… like me back?”

The goth sighed. “Sam, earlier this summer, I saw you pile a bunch of melted cheese that fell off a slice of pizza, into your mouth and I found it _endearing._ ‘Course I like you…”

Sam reached over and grabbed Felix’s sleeve, causing the other boy to look at him.

Sam closed the gap between them for a moment.

“…Cool.”

Felix smiled back at him. “Cool…”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just letting you know:  
> Care Group is basically homeroom  
> Lesson 5 is the lesson after lunch and Lesson 6 is the last lesson of the day  
> (Or at least that's how it worked at my school so...)

Unsurprisingly, school was still a drag.

Yeah, you got to catch up with your mates and now all of the summer marathons on TV would be replaced by educational programming so there would be _nothing to watch anyway_ , but you still had to go to class for a good six and half hours or so and interact with kids that you disliked and teachers that you hated.

_*Airhead: I’m bored*_

Felix smiled, shaking his head and looking towards the middle of the room where Sam was sitting with Jake.

_*School just started*_

_*And we only have 3 lessons today*_

Felix looked away from his phone as Mr. Bates continued talking.

“Year 10 is an _extremely_ important year in your academic life, so you need to make sure that you are as focused as possible…”

Felix’s phone lit up.

_*Airhead: But care group is so BORING!!!*_

Mr. Bates crossed his arms and frowned. “Isn’t that right, Samuel?”

Felix could see Jake nudge Sam with his elbow, gaining the shorter boy’s attention.

“Mmmm… wha-?”

Mr. Bates sighed. “I understand that with the technology we have today, you want to be on it as much as possible, but during class time, it is _no phones allowed._ ”

Sam chuckled awkwardly as he put his phone away. “Sorry, sir.”

-/-/-/-/-

Towards the end of lunchtime, Sam, Jake, Trent and Dylan were walking through the school yard when Jake saw Felix out of the corner of his eye. He grabbed Sam’s shoulder and pushed the skater into the goth.

“Watch where you’re going, Freak!” Jake said loudly as he, Trent and Dylan kept walking. He quickly looked at Sam and tilted his head to signal ‘talk to him’.

Sam smiled slightly, silently thanking his friend. Bumping into each other seemed like the only option for it not to look weird if he and Felix interacted at school.

“Hey…”

Felix rubbed at his arm where Sam had been shoved into him and quickly glared at Jake before looking at Sam. “Hey…”

“So, how’s it goin’?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I’m a bit bummed out to have Bates for Care Group, I’ve also got him for Science.” Felix replied, crossing his arms and blowing his fringe out of his face.

Sam pulled his timetable out of his backpack. “Lesson 6?”

“…Yeah.”

“Cool, I’ve got that too. Guess I’ll see ya there then?”

“Guess so.” Felix pulled out his phone to look at the time. “I’ve gotta go find Ellen, seeya.”

“Yeah, seeya.”

The boys walked their separate ways as Sam pulled out his phone.

_*After school @ shack*_

_*?*_

_*Goth Dude: Sure*_

The skater _did_ notice some students looking at him weirdly, but he ignored them. _‘It’s just a few kids and they probably saw Jake shove me…’_ He thought, reassuring himself.

Catching up to his friends, Sam launched himself onto Jake’s back. “You _totally_ suck, dude! Pushin’ me into that _freak?_ Really?”

Jake gave him a knowing look. “Probably wasn’t _that_ bad.”

The two playfully shoved one another until the bell rang for lesson 5.

-/-/-/-/-

Sam arrived at his Science class to see Felix already there. Walking straight the back of the room, Sam sat down, already knowing that his mind would drift during the lesson. Science wasn’t his strong point. _Most_ subjects at school weren’t except Art, which he didn’t have until Wednesday.

Sam doodled in his notebook throughout the lesson, only looking up to see the time but at one point his attention was drawn to the class.

“Science doesn’t explain everything.” Felix said, barley looking up from his notebook.

“Care to elaborate on that, Felix?” Asked Mr. Bates.

“Well, I’ve read some things on magic and-“

“Magic isn’t real.” One of the kids in the front row cut Felix off bluntly.

An argument started between the two for a minute before Mr. Bates shut it down.

“Everyone is intitled to their own opinion, but I _do_ have to agree with Andy on this one, Felix.”

Felix huffed and slouched back in his seat until class was over.

-/-/-/-/-

_“Ugh!”_

Sam chuckled from where he was sitting as Felix walked up to the shack. “You havin’ fun there?”

“It’s just that Andy kid from Science.”

“I thought he wasn’t that bad.”

Felix sighed as he sat down next to the skater. “He’s _not_ , I’ve talked to him a  couple times over the years and he’s one of the few decent kids at school. I just tend to butt heads with him and it’s so _frustrating_.”

“I’m sure it’s gonna be fine, Fe.” Sam said wrapping his arm around the taller boy.

The two boys hadn’t fully discussed the events that had taken place the day before, they just knew that they liked each other and were okay with just leaving it at that for the moment.

-/-/-/-/-

Throughout the next few school days, both boys had noticed a rare amount of attention thrown in their direction. More than usual for Sam and _a lot_ more than usual for Felix. Whispers and side-glances followed the both of them until Friday lunchtime.

“So, Conte… how’s the new _girlfriend?_ ” Trent asked loudly as he and Dylan approached Sam and Jake, gaining the attention of several groups of students throughout the school yard.

Sam laughed awkwardly, glancing at Jake who looked just as confused as he was. “What are you on about, dude?”

Trent stopped in front of the two, crossing his arms as Dylan smirked beside him. “ _Apparently_ , you and that freak, Ferne, have been hangin’ out. There something you’re not tellin’ us?”

_‘Shit.’_


	12. Chapter 12

Kids all around the school yard had surrounded them, wondering what was going on.

“He your boyfriend or somethin’, Conte?” Dylan asked.

“No.” Sam replied.   _‘Not really a lie.’_ He thought to himself.

“But you’ve hung out with him?” Trent questioned. “Lot of people sayin’ that you two have been spotted around town together. _Multiple times._ ”

“Uh, well…”

Jake was shaking his head at him, making him feel guiltier for what he was about to do.

Sam knew it was wrong, he knew he was being a complete and utter arsehole but, his reputation was on the line.

Sam scoffed. “Me and that _freak?_ Are you _kidding_ me? No fuckin’ way!” _‘Lie.’_ “He kept following me around throughout the summer, the fuckin’ _creep._ ” _‘Lie.’_ “He’s a loser. A nobody.” _‘Lies.’_

Crossing his arms, Sam looked Trent straight in the eye, convincing the bully that he was telling the truth.

“ _Nothing._ ” Sam spat out. _‘Lie. Lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, LIE!’_

The sound of shoes scuffing the ground could be heard from behind him.

“Felix!”

Turning around, Sam could see Felix sprinting off, Ellen running after him and Mia following close behind. Sam felt sick to his stomach. He couldn’t believe he was such a jerk.

Trent and Dylan both laughed as they saw the goth retreat out of the school. “Nicely done, Sam.” Trent said, clapping him on the back. “Hopefully, the weirdo will leave you alone.”

“You know what? _Fuck this!_ ” Jake said loudly, anger clear on his face. “ _I’m_ friends with him. _I’ve_ been hanging out with him.”

The students surrounding them began to chatter. Jake Riles was friends with the school freak? When did _that_ happen? How? _Why?_

“Felix is actually a fuckin’ decent kid. A kid who has gone through _so_ much shit, some of it because of me and my so-called ‘friends’, and I’m _sick_ of it.” Jake looked Sam dead in the eye.

There was so much anger and hurt in the jocks eyes and Jake wasn’t the one who had been basically thrown to the wolves.

“So, I’m _done_ pretending… And you should be too.” With that, Jake picked his backpack off the ground and walked out of the school.

Trent put his arm over Sam’s shoulder. “And to think, we were mates with the guy who’s been fuckin’ around with Dracula. Fuckin’ freaks deserve each other.”

That. Was. It.

“Get _away_ from me.” Sam pushed Trent away from him and into Dylan. “You were right, I _have_ been hangin’ out with Felix and he’s not a fuckin’ _freak_.”

Sam began to laugh as tears sprung to his eyes. “I can’t _believe_ I lied just to keep my popularity. All my _actual_ friends are gone now, and you can all _FUCK OFF!_ ” He yelled.

Sam crumpled to the ground as the students around him slowly dispersed. He felt a clap to his back.

“Congrats, Conte.” Trent smirked. “You played yourself, and now we’re gonna make your life _hell_.” He hissed. “Come on, Dyl. We’re done here.”

Sam remained sitting on the ground as the two left. Pulling his knees up to his chest, the skater took off his hat and chucked it out of frustration.

Frustration with himself.

If he had just excepted being friends with Felix and not have given a fuck about what others would think, he would’ve been fine.

_‘I’m such a fuckin’ moron.’_

Sam felt something hit the side of him. He looked down next to him to see a sketchbook lying on the ground, somewhat open with pages getting crushed from how it had landed.

“You promised me.”

Sam snapped his head up to see Oscar wheeling himself closer, filled with rage.

“You promised me that you wouldn’t hurt him.”

“Oscar… I- I didn’t _mean_ to-“

“You _promised_ me!” Oscar said once more, stopping next to the skater. “You _really_ fucked up, you know that?”

“Yeah I-“

“Shut _up!_ It’s good that you stood up for him, ya know, _after_ you said a bunch horrible bullshit and he left.” Oscar said sarcastically. “I- I _really_ thought you’d pull through, that you’d kept your promise and that you’d give a _shit_ about my brother.”

“I _do_ give a shit about him!” Sam said standing up.

“Not enough to be friends with him at school!” Oscar retorted, glaring up at Sam. “Not enough to tell the truth in the _first_ place.” Sighing, Oscar put a hand over his eyes before pulling it down his face in frustration. “ _Look_ , thanks for having the balls to stick up for him, Sam. But you were too little, too late.”

Sam picked the sketchbook off the ground and handed it back to Oscar. “I- I’ll come by and talk to him after school, ya know? Explain what happened-“

“ _Sam_.” Oscar said, cutting him off. “I think it would be best if you just left Felix _alone_ right now.”

“But-“

Oscar grabbed his sketchbook and placed it on his lap. “I’ll tell him what happened, but don’t expect anything.” Oscar began to wheel off. “You _really_ hurt him.”

The school bell rang out throughout the deserted school yard.

Sam sighed as he walked over and picked his hat off the ground. “I know.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really not that much, sorry...

The last two lessons of school were hell for Sam. Whispers and snickers from his classmates started to repeat in his head and became louder and louder as the time ticked by. His thoughts ran rampant in his mind, waiting for the bell to ring so he could just go home, curl up in his bed and disappear.

He had thought about sending Felix a text to see if the other boy was alright but decided it would be better just to take Oscar’s advice and leave him alone for a while.

Eyes were on Sam as he walked through the school yard and to the car park, waiting for his mum to pick him and his brother up.

“I heard about what happened.” Vince said, walking up behind him. “Sam, _what_ were you _thinking?_ ”

“I wasn’t…” Sam mumbled.

“You’re right, you _weren’t_. I can’t _believe_ you would do something so _stupid_ -“

“I _know_ , okay?” Sam said, cutting him off. “…I- I know. I just… Can we just not talk about ‘til we get home?”

Vince gave his brother a once over and was able to see how upset he was. “…Yeah, okay.”

-/-/-/-/-

Felix heard a knock on his door as he laid in the dark of his room. Once he had gotten home, he had immediately grabbed his doona and went to bed, trying his best to become invisible to the world around him. Ellen and Mia were close behind him and attempted to coax him out and talk about what happened, but Felix just laid still until they finally left. Jake had also shown up and told him about what happened after he had left school before saying that he would come back to check up on him soon and leaving the goth boy alone with his thoughts.

“Felix?” Oscar said as he wheeled himself into the darkened room. “C’mon Felix, get up.”

“…No.”

“Jake stood up for you after you left.”

Felix pulled his doona down and sat up. “I know, he came over before.”

“…Sam stood up for you too.”

Felix paused. “Yeah? Well, _maybe_ he should’ve done that _before_ he called me a stalker.”

“Yeah, I told him that…”

Felix sighed. “Look, Oscie… Can you just leave me alone for a bit? I’m kinda tired.”

Oscar huffed. “Fine. But we’re talking about this later.”

-/-/-/-/-

The car ride home was quiet with Sam just mumbling every once and a while and Vince telling their mum to just leave it until they got home.  Sam went straight to his room and would not come out, even for dinner.

Vince sat Pete and their mother down, explaining what had happened at lunch and what Sam had said about Felix.

Walking towards her youngest son’s room, Dee could hear a noise every few seconds.

_*THUNK*_

_*THUNK*_

_*THUNK*_

She opened the door to see Sam sitting on his bed and throwing a handball at the floor to bounce up, hit the wall and bounce back to him.

_*THUNK*_

_*THUNK*_

“Sam? Can I talk to you for a minute?”

_*THUNK*_

_*THU-*_

“ _Hey!_ ”

Dee held onto the handball as she sat down on the bed. “Vince told me about school.”

Sam avoided eye contact as he spoke in monotone. “That it’s a boring snooze fest? Could’ve told you that myself, mum.”

Dee sent her son a pointed look. “You _know_ what I’m talking about, Sam.”

Pulling his legs up and wrapping his arms around his knees, Sam let out a shaky sigh. “I messed up, mum. I- I _really_ messed up.”


	14. Chapter 14

It had been a little over a week since everything fell apart between Sam and Felix and things weren’t going too great for either of the boys. Sam had told his mum everything that happened and she had done what everyone else did, scold him and told him that it would be best to leave Felix alone for a while, but Dee had also made it very clear that Sam needed to take some time to figure out his own thoughts and feelings before talking to the goth.

The skater spent several days mulling over everything in his head and decided to call Felix to explain himself and apologize. He wrote down paragraph after paragraph, stating about how much his popularity had meant to him before, how Felix had altered his life so much since the summer and why he had fucked everything up so quickly.

Sam paced around his room as the ringing started. It felt like it would never end until Felix’s voice finally came through the other end.

_“Hey, this is Felix. Speak now or forever hold your peace.”_

_‘Should’ve known he wouldn’t pick up. Why would he?’_ Sam thought to himself. He looked down at his notes, sighing as the beep sounded out. _‘Fuck it.’_

“Uh, hey Felix. It’s Sam.” Looking over at his notes one more time, Sam chose to just say what was on his mind. “I- uh… I just wanted to say that… I’m sorry. I’m sorry for all the stupid shit I did and- and how everything turned out. I regret what I said that day and if I could take it back, I would, in a heartbeat… but I can’t. And that’s something I’m just gonna have to deal with…” Sitting down on his bed, Sam let out a sigh. “Hopefully, I can make it up to you someday, but as for right now… I’m so sorry Fe.”

Sending the voicemail off, Sam let himself fall back on his bed, trying his best not to cry.

-/-/-/-/-

It was close to midnight when Felix heard it for the first time.

When Felix’s phone buzzed that afternoon, the goth boy was busy strumming his guitar, losing himself in the music and once he had seen who he missed a call from, he avoided it and continued to act like nothing had happened after Oscar had come in to check up on him. His brother and friends checked up on him quite a lot within in the week and as much as he appreciated it, Felix was getting sick of it. He knew it was out of love and care and it was nice knowing that Jake and Mia also gave a shit about him but in all honesty?

Felix was fine.

He was so fine that he could listen to a voicemail from his ex-friend/possibly something more and be done with it, just like that.

Which is why Felix didn’t listen to it until it was almost midnight, and no one could check up on him and interrupt.

And why Felix had listened to it four times since then.

Yeah… Felix definitely wasn’t fine.

-/-/-/-/-

Sam winced as the back of his head collided with the side of the lockers after being pushed to the ground, the contents of his backpack falling out over him before the bag itself was shoved on the floor and stepped on.

“Seeya ‘round, Conte!” Trent said as he continued to walk through the corridor like nothing happened.

Groaning, Sam pushed himself up off the floor, letting stuff fall to the ground as he rubbed the back of his head. _‘That’s gonna leave a mark.’_

“Here.”

Sam looked over to see his backpack being held out to him.

“Thanks.” The skater began to brush the dirty footprint left behind by Trent off of his bag when his finally looked at the kid who was starting to pick up his stuff for him. “Andy, right?”

Andy stood up, handing Sam back several of his notebooks and his pencil case. “…Yeah, how’d you know?”

Taking his things from Andy, Sam began place them back in his backpack.  “We have science together. One time, you and Fel-“ Sam cut himself off.

Something had clicked in Andy’s head. He had heard the rumours going around back in week one and all of the gossip that had followed, but Andy wasn’t really one to pay attention to those things. “Oh…” Andy bent down, picking Sam’s sketchbook of the ground and handing back to the skater. “Well, I hope you work things out with your friend.”

“Thanks, dude.” Sam grabbed the sketchbook, smiling slightly as he put it his bag and chucking his backing over his shoulder, gripping onto one of the straps. “I’ll seeya around.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're nearing the end, folks.

The hours of the school day seemed to drag out forever, just one boring class after another as Sam drifted off with his thoughts and spent most lessons drawing instead of paying attention. It wasn’t until Mr. Bates spoke up in Care Group that Sam began to give a shit.

“Today, you will be doing an activity in groups of two, discussing what your goals are. Whether they are long term, e.g. plans for when you graduate or short term, for example two weeks from now. You may go to the library or a computer room as long as you ask me first.”

_‘Wow, that’s kinda a bummer.’_ Sam thought. Thinking about the future in any way, shape or form that wasn’t after school that day, was a bit much on a Monday arvo. But running through what Mr. Bates had said, Sam perked up. Looking around, Sam could see Felix sitting at the back of the classroom. _‘Groups of two.’_

-/-/-/-/-

Felix was considering not doing anything and just laying low at the back of the room, unbothered by the rest of the class. Bates’ plan for the lesson was not something that he or any of the other students wanted to focus on and it didn’t help that Ellen was at home sick and Jake was on an excursion with his Health class.

That was until Felix saw Sam stand up and walk in his direction. Tensing up, Felix did the only thing he could think of. Reaching over, he tapped the person in front of him on the shoulder.

“Andy, Hey! You wanna be partners?”

“Uh…” Andy was definitely confused. He and Felix hardly ever interacted, but at the same time, he didn’t really have a reason to say no. “Yeah, I don’t see why not.”

“Great.”

-/-/-/-/-

That didn’t go how Sam planned it would. He thought that he’d at least be able to get one word out before Felix shot him down and what was worse was partnering up with Andy was his back-up plan. Sam went back to the front of the room and sat down as all the other students around him began to talk amongst themselves, getting louder and louder as time went on.

“Don’t you have a partner, Sam?” Mr. Bates asked as he stopped in front of the skater’s desk.

“Uh… no, Sir. Everyone else is partnered up.”

Mr. Bates quickly counted up all the students and saw the uneven number. He had accounted for the students on the excursion, but not the ones absent due to illness. “Attention class. Sam doesn’t seem to have a partner.”

Sam sunk down in his seat. It was still unnatural for him to be the outsider.

“Is anyone willing to let him into their group?”

Everyone looked around the room, seeing if anyone was willing to take the ex-popular in, even _if_ it was for only half an hour.

“We will.”

Sam sat up straight, looking towards the back of the room.

Mr. Bates smiled. “Ah, thank you, Andy.”

-/-/-/-/-

“ _Andy!_ ” Felix hissed, slapping the shorter boy’s arm. “What the _fuck?_ ”

“What? He’s my friend.” Andy said as he began to rub his up. “And, _ow_ , by the way.”

Felix frowned. “Friend? Wh- when did _that_ start?”

“Sup, brainy dude.” Sam said as he walked over to their table. Quickly making eye contact, Sam nodded towards the goth. “…Felix.”

Andy raised his hand before Sam could sit down. “Mr. Bates? Can we go to a computer room, please?”

_‘Great.’_ Felix thought to himself. _‘Just great.’_

-/-/-/-/-

Sitting at the middle table in the computer room, the three boys awkwardly talked about their goals. Actually, Andy talked about his goals while Sam pitched in every once and a while and Felix just made hums of approval, pretending to be interested.

Andy sighed. “I’m going to the bathroom, maybe you guys can start discussing about your own goals for a bit.”

As Andy walked out of the room, Sam began to panic in his head. Should he say something? Should he do something? Should he try to talk to Felix, or would it be better to keep his mouth shut-

“I listened to the voicemail.”

Sam wasn’t expecting that.

“I’ve listened to it a _lot_ , actually.”

Felix let out a deep breath. “What you did, Sam… was shitty. Really, _really_ shitty, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget the things you said.”

“I- I know, Fe. I’m so sorry-“

 “Let me finish.” Felix said, cutting him off. “…I don’t think I’ll be able to forget it, but I think maybe, _maybe_ … we could start being friends again.”

Sam couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “ _Really?_ ”

“Yeah.” Felix looked up at the ceiling, swivelling his computer chair from side to side slightly. “I don’t know if it’ll ever be the same…”

Sam nodded, looking at the ground. “Completely understandable, dude. But I’m willing to try.”

Felix moved his gaze down from the ceiling to the shorter boy. “ _Good._ I think you owe me that much.”

“How’s it going?” Andy asked, walking back into the room.

“I’d say it’s going pretty good, right Airhead?” Felix said smiling slightly over at Sam.

Sam couldn’t help but smile back. “Y-yeah, pretty good.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, it's over,

As the last bell of the school year rang out, the students of Bremin High flooded out of the school yard, yelling and laughing as the summer holidays began. Sam jumped out of his seat and ran for the door, excited to finally be done with another year of education.

“Sam!” Jake yelled, getting the shorter boy to wait. “Calm down, mate. We’re not even out of school yet.”

“Yeah, but it’s summer, dude. No more work, no more being told what to do and no more being told when to eat!” Sam said, bouncing on his feet, unable to keep still.

“Only for six weeks.” Felix spoke up from behind the two as he, Ellen and Mia walked over to them.

“Dude, can you _not_ bum me out? _Please?_ ” Even though what Felix had said put a slight damper on his mood, Sam couldn’t help but smile at the goth.

Ellen smirked. “Where’s the fun in that?” She grabbed Mia’s hand and began to walk off before turning to the boys once more. “ _Sammy_.”

“Wha- _Mia!_ I told you _not_ to tell her that!” Sam yelled over to the two, annoyed.

Mia smiled and shrugged. “It’s fun to pick on you, Sam. Sorry.”

Sam held up the rude finger as the two girls began to walk off again. “Yeah, yeah. Go. Have your ‘summer of love’.” Turning back to Felix and Jake, the skater huffed and crossed his arms. “How fuckin’ dare she?” He muttered.

Felix shrugged. “Eh, I think it’s a cute nickname.”

Sam’s face flushed slightly as he looked at the ground. “I don’t _do_ cute.” He mumbled.

Felix smiled down at him. “Yeah ya do.”

Jake coughed, grabbing the two boys’ attention. “ _Anyway_ ,” He started, rolling his eyes. “Hangout, shack, 5:30, yeah?”

Felix nodded. “Yeah.”

Looking past the two for a moment, Sam spoke up. “Hey, is it cool if I invite someone?”

Jake raised an eyebrow while Felix furrowed his.

“Uh, yeah, I guess.” Jake replied.

Sam smiled. “Cool.” Stepping to the side, Sam cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled across the school yard. “Hey! Andy!”

Felix noticed Jake tense up. After Sam had begun to hang out with them again, he had invited Andy and started to integrate him into the group and it was pretty obvious that, after a while, Jake had a soft spot for the nerd.

“You wanna hang out this arvo?” Sam continued to yell as Andy walked over to them.

“You can stop yelling, I can hear you.” Andy said as he approached the three. “When?”

Sam nudged Jake’s arm, startling the jock. “Uh… 5:30?”

Andy smiled up at the taller boy. “Okay, see you then.” Waving goodbye, Andy walked back over to his sister, Viv, and left the school grounds.

“Yeah… See ya…” Jake mumbled back.

Felix blinked a few times. “Wow, Jake, that was…”

Jake groaned, rubbing his hand over his face. “Awful. Just _awful_.” He shoved Sam lightly. “Why’d you do that?”

“’Cause he’s my friend.” Sam stated as he began to chuckle. “Plus, it’s fun to see you squirm.”

“Jake Riles; Super Athlete, choked to death because a nerdy boy smiled at him.” Felix said with a terrible impression of a news reporter.

“Oh, ya think that’s funny do ya?” Jake asked as he grabbed Felix and put the goth boy into a headlock.

“Ahh! Jake! Get off!” Felix’s cries were somewhat muffled due to his face being slightly squashed into Jake’s shirt.

Sam smiled widely at the scene before him. He had really missed that sort of thing earlier in the year and even through out the year as Sam slowly became part of the group again. It took a while for things to be close to what they were like at the beginning of the year, but as time went by, Sam noticed the others becoming comfortable with him again and now their friendship group was stronger than ever.

“Sam.” Felix said, waving his hand in front of the skater’s face.

“Huh-“

“I said, I gotta go. I’ll see you guys later.”

“Oh, yeah… Bye, Fe.” Sam replied as the goth began to walk off.

“See ya, Felix.” Jake said. Once Felix had left, Jake began to chuckle.

“What?”

“You guys are so into each other, holy _fuck!_ ” Jake said as he finally began to leave the school grounds.

Sam caught up to the taller boy. “Wha- No. _No!_ Felix doesn’t like me like that.”

Jake raised an eyebrow.

“Not-… Not anymore.” Sam sighed. “After the shit I pulled this year, why would he?”

“So, maybe you fucked up a bit, but you apologized, and he forgave you.”

“Yeah, so I’m extremely lucky that he agreed to be friends again but that doesn’t mean that… whatever we had before is on the table.” Sam laid his skateboard on the ground, resting his foot on it. “Felix is just a friend, and I can live with that.” With that, Sam got on his skateboard and pushed off, heading home.

-/-/-/-/-

Sam was the last one to arrive at the shack, once again, bringing a ton of food, glowsticks and sparklers with him for everyone throughout the night.

“Sam! Hey, what took you so long?” Felix asked, walking over to the shorter boy.

“I had to bribe Pete into driving me here.” Sam groaned. “I have to wash his footy gear for the next _month_.”

Laughing, Felix walked over to the esky that Jake had brought and grabbed two cokes. “Hey, can I talk to you for a bit? Ya know, later?” He asked as he handed Sam the other coke.

“Uh, yeah, dude. Sure.”

“Cool.” Felix smiled and began to drink his coke before being hit in the back of the head. Looking down, the goth spotted a red and yellow gummy snake in the grass. “Jake!”

Jake smirked. “What? I didn’t do anything.” He said, faking innocent as he bit into a green and blue gummy snake.

Beside the jock, Andy threw two more snakes at Felix. “He’s not wrong.”

Sam smiled. Yeah, he really missed this.

-/-/-/-/-

Felix was sitting on his own, outside the shack, watching the sun go down as the others began to distribute glowsticks between themselves.

The goth felt a tap on his shoulder. “I got you some.” Sam said, holding out three glowsticks.

Felix gave a small smile back. “Thanks.” He said, grabbing the glowsticks. He snapped them as Sam sat down next to him and handed him connectors.

“So…” Sam started as Felix connected his glowsticks individually into wristbands. “What’d you wanna talk about?”

“You remember earlier this year?”

Sam tensed. He had thought things were going well. “Y-yeah, how could I forget? I fucked up _pretty_ badly.”

Felix shook his head. “No, before that.”

Sam rattled his brain for a moment, coming up with nothing.

“When we… said that we _liked_ each other.” Felix continued.

Sam eyes widened. He wasn’t expecting that. “…Yeah, I- I remember.”

Felix didn’t say anything else.

Sighing, Sam looked over to where the sun was setting, making sure to avoid eye contact from the boy next to him. “Look, Felix. Obviously, I still like you. Everyone knows it, and I know that things aren’t going to go back to the way they were and if you want, I’ll go back home and stop hanging out with you guys-“

“Sam-“

“-even though that’ll _majorly_ suck-“

“Sam-“

“But I don’t want to make you uncomfortable-“

“ _Sam!_ ”

The skater finally stopped rambling, looking over at the goth who was smiling.

“I still like you, too.”

Sam blinked. “I’m sorry, what now?” He mumbled.

Rolling his eyes, Felix closed the gap between them like he had done almost a year beforehand, but not quite as awkwardly. “You’re a dork, Sam Conte.” Standing up, Felix held out his hand. “You coming?”

Sam nodded. “Yeah.” He smiled as he linked their hands together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to anyone who has read this. Originally this going to be a long one shot, then only about two or three chapters but, hey, what do ya know? Sixteen.  
> I'm really proud of how this all turned out, even though some chapters were quite shit.  
> Thanks, once again for reading this and there will definitely be more stories in the future. (But I'll probably just stick to one shots.)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to try and update as quickly as possible, I have the whole story marked out in dot points so _hopefully_ it won't take too long


End file.
